In various computing systems, multi-host computing nodes are equipped with a dedicated management controller that communicates with a control server over the network for the purpose of remote monitoring and control. For example, Patent Application Publication U.S. 2014/0280837, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a baseboard management controller (BMC) managing a computer system including N computer nodes, N being an integer greater than one. The BMC comprises a processor, a first communication interface controller and a memory. The memory stores a firmware, and the firmware is executed by the processor. The firmware, is configured to dynamically obtain the value of N, and to initiate N virtual BMC stacks each managing at least one health or performance related aspect of a respective one of the N computer nodes. The first and second virtual BMC stacks of the N virtual BMC stacks communicate, through the first communication interface controller, with the first and second computer nodes of the N computer nodes, respectively.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,668,941, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes methods and systems for implementing a network protocol stack and a web interface within a management module. A network controller supports utilizing a plurality of media access control (MAC) addresses. The method involves configuring the network controller to allocate one of the MAC addresses to the management module where the management module is utilized in monitoring operations associated with the computer system. The network controller is programmed to send to the management module, via the system interface, all network packets addressed to the MAC address allocated to the management module. The TCP/IP stack and the web interface are provided within the management module.